Region Ile-de-France

The nation in capital

From Lutèce to the construction of new towns, Île-de-France has been the setting for the most decisive hours in the country's history. What could be more logical in this France marked by centuries of monarchical and republican centralization.
Yes, Île-de-France is Fontainebleau (77) and its castle where François I likes… and where Napoleon I abdicates. It is the Louvre and its intrigues, and Versailles (78), whose splendor embodies the apogee of the monarchy by divine right. It is the basilica of Saint-Denis (93), necropolis of the kings of France, and the abbey of Port-Royal, in Paris, center of religious protest. It is the great hours of the French Revolution, the first steps of the First Republic, and almost all the centers of power of the XNUMXth: the Élysée Palace, the National Assembly, the Senate...
This glorious history also has its places of confrontations, dramas, often painful memories: Charonne and the bloody repression of a demonstration against the OAS and the war in Algeria; Mont-Valérien and the execution of more than a thousand hostages and resistance fighters during the Second World War; the Federated Wall, where 147 Communards were shot; Drancy (93) where Parisian Jews leave for the death camps.

The emergence of the region 

Despite this very national context, the local fact managed to emerge in Île-de-France, but later than elsewhere. Thus, it was not until 1977 that the mayor of Paris was elected by universal suffrage, well after his colleagues in other French cities. Similarly, it was only in 2006 that the Ile-de-France Region inherited the “public transport” competence via the organizing authority in this area, the Stif. If decentralization has finally made its way, the question of the specific role of the State in Île-de-France remains a recurrent question, resurfacing for example during the launch and management of the Grand Paris project.

An economic lung

• First serve

A cultural and intellectual metropolis, a scientific and urban laboratory, Île-de-France is also the economic heart of the country, alone producing 28% of the national gross domestic product. The fact of being the capital region translates logically into the power of the service sector. 82% of working people in the Ile-de-France work in the tertiary sector, in administration, banking, tourism, personal assistance or commerce.

• Research in mind

With 40% of the workforce of French researchers, Île-de-France has a unique capacity for creation and innovation in Europe and is asserting itself as one of the leading scientific and technological regions in the world. The seven competitiveness clusters in the Ile-de-France are mobilizing to reinforce this vocation, by developing applied research, improving technology transfer and strengthening synergies with economic players.

• industrial cradle

Its industrial fabric still includes cutting-edge sectors – the automobile, aeronautics, printing, electronics, pharmaceuticals and even the food industry – even if some are facing a deep crisis.
These economic activities shape the landscapes of the Ile-de-France, from the Seine valley, cradle of the automobile industry, to the business district of La Défense (92), from the scientific plateau of Saclay (91) to La Plaine-Saint-Denis ( 93) which turns to the cinema industries, from the international market of Rungis (94) to the port of Gennevilliers (92), both dedicated to logistics.

• Land objectives

There are many testimonies of the agricultural vocation of Île-de-France. The mills of Pantin (93) and Corbeil-Essonnes (91) remind us that the region has been and remains a land of major cereal crops. Market gardening struggles to stay at the gates of Paris and supply the population with fresh local produce. To achieve this, it relies in particular on the development of short circuits, but also on land interventions to resist urban sprawl.

• A region with many faces 

Today's realities, tomorrow's scenario

According to figures published by INSEE in January 2017, Île-de-France would have 12.143.000 inhabitants in 2016, compared to 12.027.565 inhabitants in 2014, i.e. 19% of the French metropolitan population. As in mainland France, the life expectancy of Ile-de-France residents at birth continues to increase for both women (85,9 years in 2014) and men (80,8 years). Paris has the highest life expectancy. In addition, the gap in life expectancy between women and men in Ile-de-France is narrowing, going from 6,3 years in 2004 to 5,1 years in 2014. In 2030, we should be 12,7 million Ile-de-France residents. And some scenarios even evoke a population of 13,1 million. Despite this demographic dynamism, we should experience a certain aging of the Ile-de-France population, with the average age rising from 36,7 to 39,3 years. But Île-de-France would remain, according to experts, the metropolitan region with the most potential active people (20-59 years old) than potentially inactive people (under 20 and over 60 years old), and the region the most attractive for 18-29 year olds. And, to accommodate this population, Île-de-France in 2030 should have 5,5 million main residences, or 680.000 more than in 2007.

DYNAMIC… AND CONTRASTED

Île-de-France has the particularity of counting, among the departments that make it up, the richest and the poorest in France. Between 2000 and 2008, the gaps between the richest municipalities and the poorest towns widened further, with average declared incomes being five times higher in Neuilly-sur-Seine (92) and in the 7th arrondissement of Paris than in Grigny (91), Garges-lès-Gonesse (95) or Clichy-sous-Bois (93). However, it remains the richest French region in France, ahead of Alsace and Rhône-Alpes.